Recent Posts
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Kevin Spacey among first .sucks buyers
Kevin Murphy,
April 3, 2015, 12:18:59 (UTC),
Domain Registries
Kevin Spacey, Google, Apple and Microsoft are among the first to buy .sucks domains in apparent attempts to protect their reputations.
Vox Populi Registry, which took .sucks to its sunrise period on Monday, has started publishing the names of sunrise registrants on its web site.
Names scrolling past on a ticker stream this morning include kevinspacey.sucks, gmail.sucks, siri.sucks and windowsphone.sucks.
Other brands to register so far include Instagram, WordPress, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Wal-Mart.
The dominant registrars on the ticker are MarkMonitor, CSC and LexSynergy, which all specialize in brand protection.
It’s notable that some of the registered strings are secondary brands covering products and services, rather than merely the company’s name.
That could suggest that trademark owners are being somewhat aggressive in their defensive registrations in .sucks.
Actor Kevin Spacey, the only celebrity I spotted on the ticker, has a track record of protecting his personal brand online.
In 2002, he won a cybersquatting complaint over kevinspacey.com, which is now his official web site.
Spacey… well, let’s just say he has been the subject of many speculative media reports over the years. We have mutual acquaintances and from what I hear I can see why he wouldn’t want his brand in third-party hands.
UPDATE: Taylor Swift’s people, who made headelines a few weeks ago by buying taylorswift.porn, have also acquired taylorswift.sucks via MarkMonitor.
Brands and celebrities should stay away from “their” .sucks. While I preach brand protection, this is one TLD (together with .rocks) which is for the haters. Any brand should let them have a .sucks platform, where you can find out why your brand sucks.
Now Verizon can read comments such as “Well it’s been FOUR calls, and I am STILL on HOLD!” on one platform, and do something about a service, which truly sucks. Only great brands listen to their customers and act upon it from fixing what’s wrong and even awarding someone for taking the time to let them know what doesn’t work.